


take care

by imstephtacular



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluffy, M/M, Sick Liam, Ziam Fluff, domestic ziam, is my favorite zayn obviously, soft!zayn, ziam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 08:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5328239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imstephtacular/pseuds/imstephtacular
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam's weekends belong to Zayn, even if stubborn Liam needs Zayn to take care of him when he's sick</p>
            </blockquote>





	take care

“Are you sure, Li?” Zayn murmured into the receiver, scraping at a bit of something stuck on the coffee table. 

“Yes, I’m sure, for the sixteenth time,” Liam whined on the other end. “Or maybe seventeenth, you know I’m rubbish with numbers.” A smile crept into his voice and Zayn sighed.

“Alright, I’ll see you tonight then.”

“Tonight.” 

 

***

 

“Weekends belong to you, Z,” he reassured him one last time, slipping out of his jacket and shoes and padding over to the kitchen. “Everyone and anyone gets my attention all week long, but weekends...those are yours. Always.” He began rummaging through the cabinets as Zayn sidled up to the counter and leaned against it. 

“Looking for something?”

Drawers slammed and utensils shifted as Liam continued his search. “Crackers. Or summat. Tea and crackers,” he replied, his voice dying halfway through the phrase. He suddenly got dizzy and faltered into the sink. Zayn was swift to catch his arm before he knocked his head and slowly lowered them together to the ground. He let Liam slump against him, the hard knobs of the cabinet digging into his back. 

“You’re okay, I’ve got you,” he whispered, wrapping his arms tighter around Liam’s middle. Liam shook his head wildly before realizing it was a poor choice. His dizziness returned and his head lolled from side to side. “Hey, be still. You’re okay. No quick movements, yeah, that’s good,” Zayn cooed, stroking his hair and resting his chin on Liam’s shoulder. 

“I’m fine, yeah, fine,” Liam mumbled. “What happened?”

“Dunno. You just...kinda fainted. So you’re not fine, love,” Zayn chuckled lightly, cradling Liam in his arms. “But you’re here and I’ll take care of you.” He planted a tiny, tender kiss on the side of Liam’s next and Liam relaxed into him.   
Twenty minutes later, Zayn had managed to get Liam lifted off the floor and somewhat settled onto the couch. He fixed a pot of tea, finally found a half-stale box of crackers on the top shelf, and was setting tissues and a cocktail of medications he scrounged up onto the coffee table. Liam was lingering on the edges of cohesion, mumbling nothings in a fever haze. Zayn touched his skin and went to fetch a cool cloth to lay across his forehead. Liam was tossing and turning fitfully for a bit but finally stopped and slitted his eyes open when Zayn was fiddling with finding a movie to play. “Better be Batman,” he moaned before closing his eyes again and falling into a delirious sleep. Zayn smirked to himself and scrolled through the list on screen before choosing Liam’s favorite. He sighed, half in relief and half in exhaustion, and busied himself with tidying up the room around Liam’s sleeping frame. He finally settled into the arm chair across the room once Liam was sleeping somewhat close to soundly and let himself gaze at the blanket on the couch softly rising and falling with Liam’s breath. 

He awoke abruptly hours later to Liam’s loud thrashing and groaning. He quietly, but quickly, floated over towards him, crouching gently in front of the couch, laying a soft hand on Liam’s burning arm. “Hey, hey, shh shh. You’re okay, babe. You’re here. With me. It’s all a bad fever dream.”

“So...hot…” Liam grunted and Zayn had to bite back a smile and take him seriously. 

“I would say thank you, but I know you’re not talking to me,” he replied softly. “It’s just the fever. Here, drink,” Zayn instructed, touching a bendy straw to Liam’s lips and waiting for him to sip. He held the glass of water until it was drained and Liam was gasping before retreating to the kitchen to refill it. Liam whined behind him and Zayn turned on his heel. “Just getting you some more water, love. Be right back.” Liam moaned again, but rolled over into a cushion that muffled his groaning as Zayn walked in the opposite direction. 

As he filled the glass from the tap, Zayn glanced over his shoulder and let out a long, easy breath. He thought of the crinkles around Liam’s eyes and how, even in a hot, sweaty, miserable state, the crinkles still brought shakes to his knees. He thought of Liam’s lips, cracked and swollen around a bendy straw, the same lips scarred with bite marks from thinking too hard and trying even harder turn Zayn on. He thought of how they would usually spend the weekend-- eating takeout on the floor, lying on the bed and talking about nightmares and dreams, drawing tattoos on each others’ skin with colored markers and paint, sleeping until the afternoon and tangling limbs into the night-- and thought he wouldn’t trade all of this, Liam sick and moaning and fragile and weak, for any of that if it meant he would take care of him and show him love in new and important ways. The water began spilling onto Zayn’s hands and he blinked back to reality. He mopped up the drips on the countertop and brought over a package of cookies he had been saving for later and settled on the floor in front of the couch. 

“You can say I told you so now, y’know,” Liam mumbled, struggling to sit up straight against the pillows. Zayn reached out to help him, but Liam feebly waved him off. “I knew I was getting sick. I just really wanted to see you,” he pouted, which made something inside Zayn flutter and burst at the same time because a sick and dopey Liam on his couch was almost more than he could handle. He chewed back a grin and handed Liam a cookie wordlessly. 

“Sickness and health, right?” Liam chuckled meekly, using all of his strength on a simple joke. 

Zayn blushed all the way to his golden eyes. “Put it in the vows, love,” he smiled, knowing, and kissed Liam’s flushed cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back from a long, much needed, hiatus! This was a drabble I thought about while working on another, longer fic so enjoy :)


End file.
